Why would you use an English concordance?

To locate passages:
You can use an English concordance to find the location of a passage
for which you remember only a few leading words. For example, you
could use the concordance to find out the location in the New
Testament of the story of the woman caught in the act of adultery if
you remember that the words "stone" and "throw" were used.

To pursue a topic throughout the Bible:
You can use a concordance to see how a topic or issue is treated
throughout the Bible. For example, you could trace the use of the
words "blind" and "blindness", or find the locations of a significant
phrase, such as "be fruitful and multiply", which appears both in the
first creation story in Genesis and is repeated, among other places,
at the end of the flood story. This repetition of a distinctive
phrase establishes a connection or association between these two
passages in Genesis.

To discover nuances of meaning:
Probably the most important use of a concordance is to study the
nuances of meaning of a particular word by examining the various
contexts in which it is used. The contexts in which the word occurs
show the range of meaning and the possible nuances of meanings. A
comparison of these contexts will help you decide which nuance of
meaning best fits the passage you are studying and will also show if
the word is being used in an unexpected way. For example, where does
the word "righteousness" appear in the Bible? Does Matthew use the
word "righteousness" in the same way as Paul uses it?

The concordances most useful for serious Biblical study are those
that allow you to begin with an English translation and get back to
the original Hebrew or Greek words underlying the translation. This
is important because there is not a one-to-one correspondence between
the English words used for translation and the Hebrew or Greek words
of the original text. If you want to compare the usage of words or
phrases in various passages, you need to be sure that these words or
phrases were the same in the original language.

The concordances that allow you to trace words back to
the original text have two main sections: the concordance proper
and the index-lexicon. The concordance proper is a listing of the
English words used in the translation on which the concordance
based, along with citations for the verses in which a given word
is found. The index-lexicon usually contains Hebrew and Greek
sections, which list the original language words, followed by the
English words used to translate each Hebrew or Greek word.

To find similar stories for comparison:
Being able to trace back to the original languages allows you to find
similar stories for comparison. In Form Criticism, determination of
genre is based on finding passages with the same structure, common
language or expression, and a common Sitz im Leben or setting
in life. You can use the concordance to locate passages that have
common expressions, in order to compare these passages.

Which concordance should you use?

For some purposes any of the English concordances in the Divinity
Trowbridge Reading Room will suffice, but for more serious Biblical
study you will want to use one of the concordances that allows you to
get back to the original languages. The four English concordances
listed below all allow you to find all the occurrences of any given
original language word, but they differ in the way that this is done.
A detailed example of how to do a word study is provided for the
Morrison and Whitaker concordances.

Morrison, Clinton. An Analytical
Concordance to the Revised Standard Version of the New
Testament. Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1979. Call
number: BS2305 M67

This concordance lists the English words or phrases used in
the Revised Standard Version of the New Testament in dictionary
form, as headings of entries. Under each English word are one or
more subheadings, which give the definition of a Greek word that
has been translated by the English word of the entry, the Greek
word itself, and a transliteration of the Greek word. In addition
there may be grammatical references in parentheses. Under the
subheadings, citations for the Bible verses in which the word
occurs are listed. In the index-lexicon at the end of the book,
the transliterated Greek words are listed with all English
translations of them found in the RSV. To find all the occurrences
of a Greek word in the NT, go back to the concordance, look up
each of the English words listed under the Greek word in the
index-lexicon, and then look for your Greek word as a subheading
under the English words.

See the Signs and Symbols list on page xx-xxi of this
concordance for explanation of the various symbols that appears
throughout the book.

This concordance lists the English words or phrases used in
the King James Version of the Bible in dictionary form, as
headings of entries. Under each English word are subheadings that
give the definition of a Hebrew or Greek word that has been
translated by the English word of the entry, the word in Hebrew or
Greek characters, and a transliteration of the Hebrew or Greek
word. Under each of the Hebrew and Greek words are listed the
citations for verses in which that word appears. To find all of
the occurrences of a Hebrew or Greek word in the Bible, look up
the original language word under its transliterated form in the
index-lexicon of the Old Testament, or of the New Testament, in
the back of the book. Under the transliterated Hebrew or Greek
words are listed the other English words that have been used to
translate the original language word. (The numbers following the
English words in the index indicate the number of times the Hebrew
or Greek word has been translated by that particular English word,
and the total is the number of times the Hebrew or Greek word
occurs in the Bible.) To find the verse citations of the other
occurrences, go back to the concordance, look up the additional
English words and look for the appropriate subheading of the
transliterated Hebrew or Greek word under the English word.

Note that the Hebrew or Greek word might
not be under the precise word listed in the index, e.g.
za'am the Hebrew word meaning "to abhor," is listed as
being translated twice by the English word "abhor," but in the
concordance is found one time under "Abhor, to--" and one time
under "Abhorred, to be--." Za'am is listed as occurring
one time as "Niph. be angry", but it is not found in the
concordance under the heading "Angry, to be--" but rather under
"Angry--." Note also that there is a list of additional words
in the front of the concordance which might contain a citation
of a given word, e.g. za'am is in that list one time
under "Angry, to be--." Also, a word may occur twice in the
same verse without the second occurrence showing in the
citation, e.g. za'am is listed as occurring three times
translated as defy.' Under "Defy, to--" there are only
two citations but the word occurs twice in one of the
verses.

This concordance lists in dictionary form the English words
used in the King James Version. Under each English word is a list
of citations for verses in which the word appears. Each citation
has a number to the right of it that refers to the original Hebrew
or Greek word translated by the English word in that verse.
Citations that have same number have used the English word as a
translation for the same Hebrew or Greek word. (The numbers for
Greek words are in italics while the numbers for Hebrew words are
in plain font.) These Strong's numbers are useful because
other resources such as some interlinear Bibles and some lexicons
make use of them. The Hebrew or Greek words are listed by number
in the index-lexicons in the back of the book. (Warning: these
lexicons have some inaccuracies in the definitions given). In the
index-lexicons, following the number, is the word in Hebrew or
Greek characters, a transliteration, a pronunciation guide, and a
definition. After the definition (after the colon) is a list of
English words that have been used to translate the Hebrew or Greek
word. To find citations for other occurrences of the Hebrew or
Greek word, go back to the concordance, look up these English
words, and then look for citations followed by the same Strong's
number.

In Strong's concordance you need to look
under words related to the English words listed in the
lexicon to be sure to find all occurrences of a Hebrew or Greek
word. For example, za'am, the Hebrew word meaning "to
abhor", is listed in the concordance not only under "abhor" but
also under "abhorred," not only under "defy" but also under
"defied."

An exhaustive index to every occurrence of every significant
word in the New Revised Standard Version (NRSV) New Testament.
Designed to be both comprehensive and easy to use, the concordance
is an valuable resource for everyone who reads the New Testament
in the New Revised Standard Version. Not only will it serve as a
study tool for scholars, pastors, and Bible students, but it is
useful for those who do not know Greek or who do not read from a
Greek New Testament. The analytical feature of the
concordance is that it provides information about what word in the
original Greek is being translated in each context. With this
resource, readers of the New Testament can see which of the
various English words the NRSV translators chose for the original
Greek term. Similarly, readers are able to see how a particular
English word is used to express a variety of Greek words.